LUKOIL and ROSATOM sign a strategic partnership agreement

(neftegaz) -- Vagit Alekperov, OAO LUKOIL President, and Sergey Kirienko, General Director of the State Nuclear Energy Corporation ROSATOM, signed a strategic partnership agreement between the Company and the Corporation.

Under the terms of the document, Rosatom will engage LUKOIL Group organizations in biddings for the supply of petroleum products, namely, gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, liquefied hydrocarbon gases, fuel oil, oil bitumen and various-application oils for corporate needs.

For its part, LUKOIL will engage the Rosatom organizations in competitive participation in equipment purchases for petrochemical production, generation of thermal and electrical power, and also for pipeline transport. The Agreement will be valid for three years.


The oil and gas industry is traditionally considered the motive power of engineering. This Agreement will serve as a catalyst of cooperation between our Company and the atomic industry plants, whose equipment and technologies have always been marked by exceptional quality and high reliability', Mr. Alekperov said.

⌠Rosatom 's factories turn out high-precision science-intensive products which are already used in the petrochemical industry. I am sure that the agreement with LUKOIL Group will prompt us new forms of mutually beneficial cooperation, Mr. Kirienko commented.

MRC

Indorama Ventures reopens PET plants at Lopburi after flood

(ivl) -- Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited ("IVL") would like to inform that their PET plants, Indorama Polymers Public Company Limited and Asia Pet (Thailand) Limited at Lopburi have started partial resumption of operations following a shutdown due to flooding from the end of September 2011.

The plants will ramp up production and is expected to be fully operational in May 2012.

At the same location, the company's packaging arm, Petform (Thailand) Limited, is expected to come online shortly after and the Indorama Holdings Limited, wool facility is expected to return to service later in this year.

MRC

Styron customers back new timing for Europe PS contract settlement

(styron) -- Styron Europe GmbH announced today that it has secured the endorsement of more than 20 of its key customers to change the timing for settling monthly contract pricing for polystyrene in Europe.

As opposed to other products in the Plastics industry or regions of the world which settle prices early in the month, polystyrene contract pricing in Europe continues to settle at the end of the month in a process that both Styron and its customers describe as outdated, inefficient and detrimental for stakeholders across the industry. The proposal calls for contract price settlement to take place in the first week but not later than the 10th working day of each month from
May 1.

"On March 16, we made an appeal for an improved process to settle contract pricing for polystyrene to help customers and the industry in Europe," said Paul Moyer, Styron's Vice President and General Manager for Plastics. "We are pleased to report that nearly two dozen of our key customers support the proposal and have expressed their desire to switch the timing for contract pricing settlement as of May 1. We are optimistic about securing broader industry support in the next few weeks to make this a standard industry practice and improve pricing management and transparency for producers and customers."

MRC

Dupont, Dow to help global automakers avoid output crunch

(Reuters) - Dupont (DD.N) and Dow Chemical (DOW.N) are among chemical firms working with global automakers who are bracing for a crunch in production, after a German chemical plant explosion cut a chunk of supply of a nylon resin used in brake and fuel systems.

The risk of production cuts is greater for car markers in the United States and France, and less in Japan and Germany, UBS said in a research note.

"We see high risk of production stoppages in the second quarter," UBS analysts said in the research note issued on Thursday. But they also saw an "equally high probability" that alternatives would be found within the same quarter.

The global supply of PA-12, used in several industries including auto manufacturing, was already stretched thin before the explosion at an Evonik Industries AG RAGES.UL plant in Marl, Germany on March 31, that led to the nylon resin shortage.

Auto experts and analysts are not clear how the shortfall would affect China, which has overtaken the United States as the world's largest auto market.

MRC

Fire breaks out at refinery: EGPC delays naphtha shipments

(plastemart) -- A fire broke out last Saturday at Egypt's Nasr Petroleum Company. The company is in the process of restarting its 146,300 bpd refinery in Suez.

The accident has prompted EGPC to delay two naphtha shipments, originally scheduled for H2 April, to be lifted in May and June from Suez port. A third April naphtha cargo was due to be shipped out last weekend when the fire broke was slightly delayed.

Since Suez exports about 60,000 to 90,000 tons of naphtha to Asia, this delay in naphtha shipments is likely to have an impact on the Asian market amid tight supplies in May du e to limited cargoes from Europe.

According to an official, the fire started at a warehouse at the refinery, which is operated by Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation's (EGPC) subsidiary El Nasr Petroleum since 1913.

MRC